“It’s pretty incredible, I never thought it could happen to come into this weekend at all” – Norris
Lando Norris has spoken out after landing his second podium of the 2021 season at the historic Circuit de Monaco on Sunday.
After starting 5th on the grid, the British driver fought his way through 78 laps to come home with 15 points after defending his position against Red Bull’s Sergio Perez over the final 15 laps.
The impressive showing ensured McLaren held onto 3rd in the Constructors’ Championship, meanwhile, Lando is third in the Driver’s Standings with 56 points.
Speaking after the race, the 21-year-old thanked his team and is already looking at what they can improve on ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June.
“Awesome. Monaco podium! It’s pretty incredible, I never thought it could happen to come into this weekend at all, so I’m super, super happy”, Norris said.
“I’m proud of the team for what we’ve achieved this weekend. We’ve made some good progress. We’ve still got more work to do – it’s not like we can let-up now – but another trophy and a lot of points for us, which is pretty awesome.
“A big thanks to the whole team and everyone back at the factory as well for all the work they’re putting into it.
“It’s paying off, and I hope this is motivation to work even harder and keep bringing improvements.”
On the other hand, it was a disappointing day for the second Mclaren of Daniel Ricciardo who on Lap 51 of Sunday’s race was 1.7s behind Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in 12th.
While struggling on the Hard tyres, Ricciardo was lapped by his teammate Lando Norris and was a distant 1.31.4s off the lead.
Speaking after crossing the line in P12, the Aussie driver congratulated his teammate on a podium finish, and plans to take some time out ahead of round six at the Baku City Circuit
“This has just been a bit of a weekend to forget for me, unfortunately”, he said.
“The race was always going to be tricky after a difficult qualifying session yesterday and that’s how it turned out. I struggled a bit at the start on the Medium and that pretty much decided our race.
“The second stint on the Hard was encouraging and the lap-times really started to improve, but by that point there wasn’t much more I could do given how hard it is to pass here.
“I’ll just have to figure out what happened and just step away for a few days to switch off a little bit before going again in Baku.”
He went on to say, “On the positive side, it was a great result for Lando and the team, so congratulations to everyone.
“It shows the pace is there in the car and that we’ve just got to work at unlocking it, but that will come with time and mileage.”
Racing resumes on June 6 at the Baku City Circuit for Round 6 of the 2021 season.
